Singer comes home for holiday, performance

Thursday

Even with years of performing behind her, Erin Austin had never performed at an open mike night until a June visit home landed her at the Tramontane Café on a Sunday evening.

Even with years of performing behind her, Erin Austin had never performed at an open mike night until a June visit home landed her at the Tramontane Café on a Sunday evening.

The audience didn’t seem to notice Austin’s newness to the open mike stage. Two songs turned to three, three turned to four, four turned to five. Five turned to booking a gig at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 27, at the café, 1105 Lincoln Ave.

“It will be fun for my family to see what I do with my life,” said Austin, a Clinton High School graduate, who currently lives in Texas as she pursues a career in music.

Austin’s performance in Utica might seem a surprise for those who are familiar with her songs, particularly, “Home”, where she reveals her thoughts about Upstate New York:

“Upstate, NY sad and lonely and people live to die there. I don’t ever want to go back to Utica. Not another holiday back in Utica. But I called it home, I called it home.”

But, explains the artist, the lyrics reflect a deeper place than the words might reveal.

“At that time, I lived in California, and it did not feel like home,” says Austin. “Then, I lived in Oklahoma for seven years; I made lifelong friends in Oklahoma, and, at that point, I was just really missing that.”

For Austin, Utica represents two very different things: A sadness and loneliness, a city of defeat. But then there are the people – who are unlike any in the world, says Austin, who remembers growing up surrounded by Italian families and wanting nothing more than to be a part of those “big, boisterous families” with a last name ending in “–ucci and –rico and –vello and –ruzzi.”

But as Austin’s grown into adulthood (she’s almost 26), those friends with the “big, boisterous families” have left the area, and going home just isn’t what it used to be, she says.

“A lot of my cousins and friends have moved away and come back for the holidays, but it feels older than me. I go back and it’s like, man, I see old people and then they die. This is so sad to me,” she said.

Hence, the creation of “Home”, and the subsequent growth of a strong songwriter, Austin believes.

“I’m not a Utica hater; I grew up there,” she says. “At the same point, I’m going to be real with you. It’s really how I feel. That’s how you write good music — when you come from an honest place.”

Writing from that place and having that honesty come through to listeners means more to Austin than fame.

“I don’t really care if I’m famous,” Austin says. “When I meet famous people, I think ‘You’re a normal person and a lot of people know you.’ I’m not aiming for that. I want to make good music and have people listen to it and like it.”

Austin, who currently is recording her first album, shouldn’t have any problem with people liking what she’s creating. Her indie-pop vibe is reminiscent of some of the current scene’s greatest female singer-songwriters, including Regina Spektor and Feist.

Austin’s music – much like herself – is genuine, appealing and leaves a positive print on your soul. Hear for yourself at www.myspace.com/erinaustinmusic or erinaustin.com.

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